CHAPTER VII. 



PAST AND PRESENT EIGHTEENTH AND NINETEENTH 



CENTURIES. 



One hundred years ago — 111 omens — Three-bottle men — Watchmen 

 and Bow Street runners — Signboards — Village stocks — May-poles 

 — Beating the bounds — Dick I'urpin — " Stand, and deliver ! " 

 — Collecting — The ducking-stool — The majesty of the law — The 

 last century — Encouraging virtue by exposing vice — Military 

 patrols — An empty boast — An exchange of property — " I merely 

 borrow" — Turpin's death — A sharp archbishop — "Remove that 

 dangerous weapon " — Tyburn tree — Men of the time — Wars of 

 the last century — Abolition of slavery — Yoho ! — Washington 

 Irving and an English coach — Virgil on driving. 



The eighteenth century was essentially the period of 

 road travelling. One thing which has a material 

 influence upon civilisation is the ease and speed with 

 which one can perform long journeys. 



Any person at the present day who Is over sixty 

 years of age should retain a vivid recollection of 

 the mail and staQ^e-coaches, althouoh that mode of 

 travelling may have only continued for a short period 

 during the very earliest clays of their childhood ; but 

 all persons now alive of seventy years and upwards 

 must have passed much of their life amidst scenes 

 familiar to travellers on the road previous to the 

 Introduction of railways. 



